JUDGMENT

Vibhu Bakhru, J.

INTRODUCTION

1. The appellant (hereafter `Welspun') has filed the present appeal under Section 37(1)(c) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (hereafter `the A&C Act') impugning an order dated 20.11.2018 (hereafter `the impugned order') passed by the learned Single Judge, whereby the appellant's application under Section 34 of the A&C Act, seeking to set aside an arbitral award dated 23.07.2018 (hereafter `the impugned award'), was rejected.

2. The impugned award was rendered by majority of 2:1 by an Arbitral Tribunal comprising of three members. Whilst the majority was of the view that the claims of Welspun, as included in the Final Bill, were barred by limitation, one of the members of the Arbitral Tribunal (minority) expressed a contrary view.

3. The learned Single Judge concurred with the view that the claims, as contained in the Final Bill, were barred by limitation for the reason that the arbitration had not commenced within a period of three years from the due date for payment of the Final Bill, as claimed.

4. The Arbitration Clause contemplated a pre-arbitration dispute resolution mechanism by referring the disputes to the Chief Executive